[1] Except for the addition of a built-in hard drive and extra expansion slots, it is very similar to the original IBM PC model 5150 from 1981.

[2] The XT was regarded as an incremental improvement over the PC and a disappointment compared to the next-generation successor that some had anticipated.

The number of expansion slots in the original IBM PC was a limiting factor for the product, since essential components (such as the video controller, disk controller and printer interface) each came as separate expansion cards and could quickly fill up all five available slots, requiring the user to swap cards in and out as tasks demanded.

In addition, the spacing of the slots is narrower than in the original PC, making it impossible to install some multi-board cards.

[3][8] The 5161 is an expansion chassis using an identical case and power supply to the XT, but instead of a system board, provides a backplane with eight card slots.

[3] The XT was not offered in a floppy-only model for its first two years on the market, although the standard ribbon cable with two floppy connectors was still included.

The XT BIOS also displays a memory count during the POST, unlike the original PC.

Similarly to the original IBM PC, the XT main board included a socket for the Intel 8087 floating point arithmetic coprocessor.

The XT was well received, although PC DOS 2.0 was regarded as a greater improvement than any of the hardware changes, and by the end of 1983 IBM was selling every unit they made.